Michigan accountant empowers Hispanic business owners to achieve their goals

Michael Falco | Citizens Staff

Stephanie Ortega is the co-founder of Esperanza Premier Professional Services, an accounting firm that provides tax preparation, notary and bookkeeping services to small businesses in Lincoln Park, Michigan.

The daughter of an immigrant, Ortega never expected to pursue a career in accounting. However, after watching her mother struggle to achieve her own entrepreneurial dream, Ortega became inspired to pursue a career that would enable her to empower other aspiring Hispanic and female entrepreneurs.

"Because my mom was not given that opportunity, she always pushed me to try to help others," she says.

After taking a tax class, Ortega shifted her academic focus, changing her major from marketing to business administration and pursuing an accounting degree. In 2016, she and a partner founded Esperanza Premier Professional Services.

Since starting with a single client eight years ago, the firm has grown to serve nearly 70 local businesses. Last year, Ortega also expanded the scope of the business. She now offers business administration and bookkeeping classes to help local business owners take control of their finances.

Esperanza Premier Professional Services is a winner of a 2024 Small Business Community Champion Award, which recognizes entrepreneurs striving to improve their community and provides them with $10,000 to help their businesses grow.

Ortega recently discussed how she built her business, including the importance of seeking guidance from trusted advisors, embracing the community in which you operate, and setting goals for the future.

Tip: Seek out guidance.

Ortega opened her business with an idea. She wanted to launch an accounting firm that would help business owners in her community achieve their entrepreneurial dreams, but she wasn’t quite sure where to start.

"Even though it was very difficult, it was very interesting and fun to learn about everything you need to open a business," she says. "Overcoming the obstacles was the fun part."

One of the obstacles that Ortega faced was opening a business banking account. Unsure where to turn, she approached a Citizens representative at Lincoln Park's annual Cinco de Mayo Festival, who walked her through the process.

"She literally took my hand and walked me step by step," Ortega says. "Once she helped me do that I was like, what she did for me I want to do for my community."

Ortega took this inspiration into her own firm, where she now serves as a trusted advisor to local businesses from appliance stores and restaurants to beauty salons, landscapers and more.

"Our mission is to help any client that walks in here with an idea, whether it's I want to start a taco truck, whether it's I want to start a store, whether it’s I have this idea but I don't know where to take it, and guide you step by step," she says.

There are many steps to starting and running a business, but Ortega wants her clients to know that it can be done. With the right guidance from trusted advisors, anything is possible.

"It’s not impossible to start a business, it's not impossible to try to find funding, it's not impossible to get your licensing," she says. "Whatever help that you need… it's truly not impossible."

Bottom Line: The path to success begins with knowledge and sound advice. Running a small business can be complicated, so don’t hesitate to seek guidance from trusted advisors like bankers, attorneys and CPAs. They can help you gather insights, secure resources, and make decisions to reach your objectives.

Tip: Embrace your community.

From the start, Ortega has focused on serving the vibrant Hispanic community in the Greater Detroit Metro area.

"Because they don't speak the language, because they are so new to this country, they don't know where to go," she says. "They can't find any guidance."

As a witness to her mother's entrepreneurial struggle and a Hispanic business owner herself, Ortega has been able to leverage her experience to provide guidance and support to local entrepreneurs. Translated to English, Esperanza means "Hope."

"That's truly what I wanted to bring to our community," Ortega says. "A little bit of hope that you can take any idea into any business that you really desire."

Ortega's focus on serving her community well has also helped her firm grow. Marketing can be expensive, especially for a new business, so Ortega focused on growing her client base by word of mouth. Her theory: "if one client likes us, they are going to go ahead and spread the word," she says.

Last year, Ortega had a light bulb moment when one of her clients said they couldn't afford an accountant. "There are a lot of these businesses that start off and they cannot afford accountants, they cannot afford bookkeepers," she says. "So then why not give those tools to them?"

Ortega turned her office into a classroom, offering an educational session on accounting software to four local business owners. As a result of that single two-hour class, Ortega says all four of her clients had clean books at the end of the year.

Inspired by this success, Ortega plans to host additional, daylong workshops for local business owners going forward. Funds from her Citizens Small Business Community Champion Award will be used to support these events, the first of which will be offered entirely in Spanish and will include educational sessions on accounting and business administration.

"I always had the mentality that I just want to help," Ortega says. "If I help my clients grow, then they will tell other clients and that will help us grow."

Bottom Line: A business is only as strong as the community it serves, and word of mouth can be an important engine of growth. Take time to connect with your customers and listen to their needs and wants. Look for ways to serve your community that align with your business goals.

Tip: Set goals and focus on them.

Starting a business can be a bumpy ride, and it takes a strong mentality to stay focused on the future. Among Ortega's top tips for her clients: have an end goal in mind.

"We can take that small seed and plant it. If we plant it correctly, it can expand into your wildest dreams," she says.

Ortega's favorite example of this is her very first client, a business that started as a single appliance store and has since expanded to six storefronts and counting.

"I love to learn about different businesses," Ortega says. "Every client brings me a new lesson. Every client brings me a new obstacle to overcome and to help them go into the next step."

For Ortega and Esperanza Premier Professional Services that next step is to continue to grow by opening new office locations, serving new communities and offering additional classes to business owners.

"All I want is to continue more workshops. Not just here," she says. "It sounds like a big dream, but I would love to take this international to help as many communities as we can, as many people as we can, to let them know that it's not impossible to start a business."

Bottom Line: It can be hard to find time to think about the future when you're focused on your day-to-day operations, but it's imperative to have an end goal in mind so that you know what you are building toward and can prevent distractions from steering you off course. Engage with your team of trusted advisors early to establish a roadmap to success.